moonlight Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 are you doing anything special for black history month??? we're going to do a civil rights timeline, listen to mlk jr's "i have a dream" speech. watch ruby bridges, read, discuss... also, does anyone have a good link to listen to "i have a dream??" seema Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I downloaded Booker T Washington's "Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are" speech from here: http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlight Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmamato3 Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 these are both great ideas. we studied GWCarver last year during black history month and listened to the I Have a Dream speech. We will likely listen to some speeches this year and find a documentary on netflix . . . . our book stacks are all too high right now :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalphs Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 are you doing anything special for black history month??? we're going to do a civil rights timeline, listen to mlk jr's "i have a dream" speech. watch ruby bridges, read, discuss... also, does anyone have a good link to listen to "i have a dream??" seema Things we have done... Listening to MLK Jr's speech "I Have a Dream" on YouTube. Reading the stories of MLK Jr., Rosa Parks, and Ruby Bridges. Watching the movies "Polly" and "Polly Coming Home." (These movies take place during the civil rights movement.) Planting a "Freedom Garden" using red, white and blue flowers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Black History month is SO much more than the civil right movement. I want to cover some African Folk tales. Some modern art. Music and dance. Poetry. I want to celebrate not mourn. My best friend's father is a well known civil right's advocate. He got her arrested for the first time when she was 4 :-0 I asked her to ask her brother who is a charter school principal in DC for some ideas. I know he works really hard with his students all year long on this kind of stuff. I have "The African Healing Dance" on DVD. It would make a great gym class. You act out the 4 elements with being a bird, elephant, fire and I forget what is for water. And one of the dance steps mimics picking berries I think. I'm sadly not prepared, but I know just one thing. I will NOT be doing MLK or GWCarver! Where are the list of CURRENT black scientists???? Who is furthering "the cause" NOW? And WHAT are the biggest issues of "the cause" right now? My friend is working on writing a script tonight and I think a bit manic, I'm noticing as I write this :-0 I think I'm going to be on my own lesson planning here. And then tossing HER some copy work when she comes back down to the real world. How ironic :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upstatemamma Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 We actually do not specifically do Black History Month. We talk about all of those topics as they come up in history and life. I do not like the idea of discussing black history during February as if it is really all that different. Or that it does not belong in everyday discussions. I'm not criticizing anyone for doing it just saying what we do. :) I do think that the historical greats and the current activists are worth studying. And I'd love to know what everyone is doing overall. I'm sure I miss plenty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I'm going to focus on music this month. I just got a great introduction to modern American popular music, at a library sale today, that I just read a bit of. It has a HUGE focus on how a minority has been the single biggest contribution to modern American music, and how noteworthy that is. There! I'm all set now :-) I can do other stuff next year and the year after. But for this year, this is an interesting and doable topic to cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristinaBreece Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I do not like the idea of discussing black history during February as if it is really all that different. Or that it does not belong in everyday discussions. :iagree: My stepdad is black and he jokes that they "even give us the shortest month for our history." That almost always leads into a discussion of why there has to be a time set apart for "black" history, as though it does not mesh with the history of the rest of the world... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristinaBreece Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I'm going to focus on music this month. I just got a great introduction to modern American popular music, at a library sale today, that I just read a bit of. It has a HUGE focus on how a minority has been the single biggest contribution to modern American music, and how noteworthy that is. There! I'm all set now :-) I can do other stuff next year and the year after. But for this year, this is an interesting and doable topic to cover. lol--That's a great topic! My brother, 17, is a HUGE Chuck Berry fan, and gets fixated on how rock n roll music was stolen by "white folks." He always says this jokingly... but there's really no denying the musical innovations of the black community through the years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virg Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 We are a mixed-race family and we feel the same way as a PP. We study black history as it comes up. My husband actually has some very strong feeling about the whole issue ;) It is better not to argue lol. He thinks to be truly equal his history should be studied just like everyone else's. Since I am the majority I don't get to argue. I just make sure to really focus when we get to those points in history! :) (I of course respect the way everyone chooses to do it for their family!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalphs Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Black History month is SO much more than the civil right movement. I want to cover some African Folk tales. Some modern art. Music and dance. Poetry. I want to celebrate not mourn. My best friend's father is a well known civil right's advocate. He got her arrested for the first time when she was 4 :-0 I asked her to ask her brother who is a charter school principal in DC for some ideas. I know he works really hard with his students all year long on this kind of stuff. I have "The African Healing Dance" on DVD. It would make a great gym class. You act out the 4 elements with being a bird, elephant, fire and I forget what is for water. And one of the dance steps mimics picking berries I think. I'm sadly not prepared, but I know just one thing. I will NOT be doing MLK or GWCarver! Where are the list of CURRENT black scientists???? Who is furthering "the cause" NOW? And WHAT are the biggest issues of "the cause" right now? My friend is working on writing a script tonight and I think a bit manic, I'm noticing as I write this :-0 I think I'm going to be on my own lesson planning here. And then tossing HER some copy work when she comes back down to the real world. How ironic :-) Thank you for sharing! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 There are a lot of things that I try and cover in my self-studies all year long, but the months weeks and days set aside for certain topics are nice wake up calls for me, and a chance to focus on a topic that might sometimes be being neglected. It also is a time to check in with what other people are doing, and it's a topic for publishers to produce curricula for that will sell. I'm all for days, weeks and months being set aside for things that are in reality being neglected. And black history is very neglected in most curricula :-0 I try to do better than just black history month, but I do need it! Even though I have the daughter of a civil rights activist sleeping over at my house several nights a week :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Last year when the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday came (in January), I wanted my kids to understand why we have a holiday in honor of the memory of this man. This led to reading several books about him, as well as about Rosa Parks and then watching "The Rosa Parks Story", which was a well done movie starring Angela Bassett. We ended up studying the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, Jr. in particular, for the next two months, in addition to our other studies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlight Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 thanks for your replies... we read and talked about the toothpaste millionaire last month in a book club and the civil rights movement was just a rabbit trail from that book and because it coincided with black history month, i thought i would pose this question thinking people might be doing stuff for it...because i do agree that it shouldn't be celebrate for only one month! :001_smile: seema Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetbaby Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Blessed Heritage is a wonderful resource for African American Literature and the author, Belinda Bullard, also gives a wonderful list of resources and information at the back of her guides. These are literature based U.S. History guides. She has a lower elementary level and a junior high level. Her history guides are inclusive. She teaches African American history within History itself and doesn't exclude other contributions from other races. There is a youtube video of the entire "I have a Dream Speech" and History.com has some videos as well. There is so much more to African American History than Dr. King, George Washington Carver, Rose Parks, Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, etc. I remember learning about the same people, year after year, in ps. I always knew there had to be more info out there and there is. I'm so glad that I can teach this to my children. It was interesting to learn that an African American built and designed Washington, D.C. and many African Americans invented tools that we use everyday. Belinda's Guides are an awesome resource. African American history is all of our history because each race has contributed to the building of our nation.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Thanks for the link! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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